Many people enjoy photography as a hobby, that’s certainly how I started. Some develop such a passion for it that they decide to take things a stage further and embark upon a career as a professional freelance photographer. Becoming self-employed can be a dream come true for those who crave the freedom to make their own decisions. Sound tempting? If you are looking to do just that, here are some tips to help you on your way.

Invest
It goes without saying that to be an exceptional photographer you need talent. However, no matter how outstanding your ability, the equipment you use will dictate just how successful you can be in competition with other perhaps equally skilled individuals. Investing in a good-quality kit will ensure you can make the transition from amateur enthusiast to serious professional. As well as a decent DSLR, you will benefit from a selection of lenses, a reserve battery and some memory cards. Look into insurance for freelance photographers such insurance offered by Aon, to make certain any eventuality is covered. Remember that any photography equipment you buy now can be upgraded as you improve.

What Is Your Forte?
Making a name for yourself in a competitive market place will involve more than simply taking a few photos. You will need to develop a distinct and recognisable style. Like most artists, photographers typically focus on their own specialist areas. Whether you enjoy weddings, food and drink, animals or fashion, take your time to find your own niche.

Take a Course
Published images today have nearly always been digitally manipulated and enhanced in some way. Learning to use Adobe Photoshop as well as any other useful programs you come across, will enable you to create some really unique images. It may take some time to become comfortable with using the software, but the benefits in the long term are vast.

Put Together a Portfolio
Every photographer needs a portfolio to showcase his or her work. Choose your images very carefully. They need to be breathtaking to really attract the attention of potential clients. Create a blog or online portfolio so your work can be accessed easily.

‘Bird Of Gloom’

Get Some Experience
Most photographers have to start off on quite a small scale and build up their experience gradually. One way to gain some valuable recognition and perhaps even some material for your portfolio is to volunteer your services for free at local events.

Online Presence
As a freelancer you will need to work hard to secure work, at least at first. Invest some time and money into developing an awe-inspiring website and boost your online presence through social networking. Tell your friends and family to spread the word. Be proactive wherever possible. Look at displaying your work in local galleries and through online forums. You could even send some interesting images to your local paper. Once you have achieved fame locally, it’s time to start casting your net further afield.

]]>http://www.learningthelight.com/2013/12/18/tips-to-kickstart-a-freelance-photography-career/feed/0How To Make It In Fashion Photographyhttp://www.learningthelight.com/2013/11/25/how-to-make-it-in-fashion-photography/
http://www.learningthelight.com/2013/11/25/how-to-make-it-in-fashion-photography/#respondMon, 25 Nov 2013 13:07:01 +0000http://www.learningthelight.com/?p=2140

Thinking of getting your photos onto the pages of Grazia or GQ? Well, you’re not alone. By entering into the world of fashion photography, you’re joining a highly competitive field in which time, talent and determination are a must if you want to end up on top.

With that in mind, here are a few tips on breaking into the fashion photography business.

Photograph as much as you can

Naturally, it would be foolish to expect to simply walk into the offices of Cosmopolitan or Glamour and demand a fee for your photography, and to expect to be paid at all in the beginning is setting the bar too high.

Instead, it’s a good idea to simply start taking photos. Just as a writer writes and a painter paints, a photographer should be taking photographs at every opportunity, figuring out the nuances of lighting, focusing and the differences in lenses until they become second instinct to you.

And, in the process of doing this, you’ll also be able to build up a portfolio of your best work, making that dream position in one of the pillars of the fashion industry a more realistic prospect.

Get a photography degree

With a photography degree under your arm, the respect your potential clients will have for you will increase immeasurably.

To have a degree shows that you really understand the ins and outs of how to be a photographer, and can take shots instinctually and with a solid idea of how they’ll turn out before they’ve even been snapped.

Again, this will give you another great chance to build up a portfolio, and allow you the experience and tutelage of true professionals.

Know your kit

While you can experiment and make mistakes as regularly as you like when you’re taking photographs on your own time, it’s important to really illustrate that you know what you’re doing in a professional context.

Understand the specifics of lighting, the difference between a wide-angle and a telephoto lens, and the textural qualities that differ in digital and analogue photographs to really be taken seriously by an employer.

Know how to speak to your subjects

The fashion industry isn’t interested in a drab and lifeless photo, but vibrancy and newness. And, as a fashion photographer, it’s part and parcel of your job to coax an interesting look and motion from your model.

Learn how to be personable, approachable and relaxed with your subjects, projecting those qualities onto them to gain a great performance in their expression. You should be moulding your subjects to not just simply be modelling some clothes, but expressing an idea about what they’re wearing.

Decide which area of employment works for you

The photography industry in general is rife with opportunities for more independently minded individuals, with the chance to travel down more freelance avenues available to you.

However, some magazines or other employers will take on staff photographers in order to gain a consistent output. Really, if you have the skills then the option is yours.

As long as you make sure to be a reliable and interesting photographer with an eye for the eye-catching, then the fashion industry will be sure to take notice.

]]>http://www.learningthelight.com/2013/11/25/how-to-make-it-in-fashion-photography/feed/0How to Rake it in Big with Poker Photographyhttp://www.learningthelight.com/2013/10/31/how-to-rake-it-in-big-with-poker-photography/
http://www.learningthelight.com/2013/10/31/how-to-rake-it-in-big-with-poker-photography/#respondThu, 31 Oct 2013 08:36:17 +0000http://www.learningthelight.com/?p=2134Some tips to turn a steady hand into a winning hand

Poker as a game is incredibly exciting to play but it unfortunately does not lend itself well to spectators, both live and broadcasted. This makes it particularly difficult for photographers to distill the essence of the game without resorting to a hundred and one shots of stony-faced players hidden behind sunglasses, hats, and scarves. In addition, poker games come with their own fair share of problems so preparation is key if any amateur photographer wants to come out a winner.

Here are some things to take into account before going into their first poker gig.

1) Lighting – Depending on the size and scale of the tournament, lighting is going to be one of the biggest hurdles. Even official tournaments hosted in Vegas won’t necessarily have TV grade lighting and since many tournaments prohibit flash photography, this automatically rules out one way that a photographer can work around this. Unless the venue provides ample lighting to accommodate people taking photos or video, it’s going to be a veritable nightmare getting pictures that aren’t underexposed. Prepare for the worst by coming in with lenses with apertures below 2.8 and be ready to work with higher ISO to compensate. (All these shots were at ISO 1600 – 3200, for instance, and most at f/2.8)

2) Know Where You Stand – Depending on whether a photographer is hired officially or if they’re just there as an enthusiastic fan, making sure that they never get in the way of the action is critical. While the pursuit of high quality pictures should be every photographer’s goal, it shouldn’t be reason for trouble with tournament staff, players, and other viewers. A good zoom lens will work wonders here.

3) Understand The Game – Understanding the subject is perhaps the most important part of photographing anything, ever. While experts can and will argue about the benefits of using a Canon over a Nikon and vice versa, everyone’s guaranteed to stress the value of knowing what it is they’re being tasked to photograph.

Outside of understanding the varying hands, poker is a game that incorporates a lot of mental training as players calculate the risk/reward of each scenario. Poker isn’t always about big bluffs and high action bets, and this can bore a photographer who doesn’t understand what’s going on. Playing a couple of tournaments with small buy-ins, such as Sit & Go Tournaments, prior to the event can provide a wealth of information that reading simply can’t provide. Betfair Poker’s Sit & Go Tournaments are ranked 10/10 by SNGGuide.com and is a good place to start learning the ins and outs of the game.

Like any sort of subject, it’s important to arrive prepared. Don’t let bad lighting conditions prevent you from capturing the essence of the game.

Google Play Books have some fantastic offers on photography books at the moment, with a number of great books on sale for £0.01 – yep, just one, solitary UK penny! The books on offer include the fourth book in Scott Kelby’s great Digital Photography book series (the first of which you can read my review of over here).

The books you buy on Google Play can be read via the web, on an android app, or on a ipad/iphone app.

I don’t know how long these will be at £0.01 for, so I’d suggest getting them quickly. Also not sure if you can get them in the US or rest of world at this ridiculously low price, but it’d be worth a few seconds of your time to try to find out!

If you find any more super deals like this on Google Play, please let me know in a comment below, or over on our Facebook page. Cheers!

]]>http://www.learningthelight.com/2012/07/17/photography-books-for-just-a-penny/feed/3How To Photograph A Flying Cathttp://www.learningthelight.com/2012/05/01/how-to-photograph-a-flying-cat/
http://www.learningthelight.com/2012/05/01/how-to-photograph-a-flying-cat/#commentsTue, 01 May 2012 16:18:18 +0000http://www.learningthelight.com/?p=2110I came across this great video tutorial whilst browsing around YouTube, and thought it was definitely worth a share. In the video, he talks about camera settings, technique and photoshop skills too – and even more detail can be found on his blog post.

If trying this with your cat at home, please do make sure the cat’s happy and you have a safe landing area set up!

Notice my wife blinking in the photo above? Pretty Harry Potter-esque, huh? It only took about 5 minutes to create, and you can do it easily – and for free – by getting the Cinemagram iPhone app.

These images where just a certain part of the frame are animated are also called ‘Cinemgraphs’; I remember finding some amazing examples about a year ago, and looking into how they were created – but the work involved just seemed immense! But this great iPhone app has come along now and it really couldn’t be easier. You simply record a small movie (about 2-3 secs), and then you just use your finger to highlight the area that you want animated – everything else in the shots stays still. You can then save your creation, and share it on Facebook and Twitter too. I love it!

Here’s another one of mine, featuring my lovely dog:

And another:

Have you created your own cinemagraph? Let me know in the comments below, and feel free to include a link to your creation too!

]]>http://www.learningthelight.com/2012/04/02/how-to-create-animated-photos-cinemagraphs/feed/4Why Learning About Photography Rocks!http://www.learningthelight.com/2012/03/23/why-learning-about-photography-rocks/
http://www.learningthelight.com/2012/03/23/why-learning-about-photography-rocks/#commentsFri, 23 Mar 2012 16:37:12 +0000http://www.learningthelight.com/?p=2007I don’t tend to do much ‘personal’ posting on the site, as I tend to do more guides/interviews/tips/reviews etc – but I wanted to break that trend today. I’ve been looking back through some of my old photos, and comparing them to my newer ones, and it’s just so apparent how much better my shots have become since starting to learn about photography (and getting a DSLR, too).

So, I wanted to say, if you’re on the fence about whether to go for a DSLR, and start to learn about this great subject, don’t hang around – just go for it.

The biggest reason for me, is the better photos of my family and friends. Now, i’m not saying that my ‘new’ photos are in anyway amazing, jaw-dropping, professional quality etc – because they’re not – but what they are is so much better!

Take, for example, a typical photo of my friends that I used to take, on a compact:

Shot on an old compact; pretty darn awful, huh?

And compare to a much more recent shot, taken with a Canon 500D:

That's more like it!

I’m Not Saying It’s All About The Camera…

…because it’s not at all. You can take fantastic shots on compacts. What I am saying is that buying a DSLR kind of ‘forced my hand’ in that it made me start to learn about photography; I’d made quite a hefty purchase, and I wanted to make sure I was getting the most out of it.

Being able to take better photos of my frends has made every penny, and every second learning, totally worthwhile.

Here’s another embarrassing before and after:

Ewww...(taken on an old compact, with no photography knowledge at all!)

Much better! This was also taken indoors, in lowlight, but a little knowledge (and a DSLR) has improved the shot drastically.

Go For It!

I know it can seem daunting, and I know getting a DSLR is a lot of money, but it’s just so worthwhile. Once you’ve learned some of the basics (which this site can help you with a bit – and you’re also more than welcome to pop over to our Facebook page and ask us a question) then you’ll be taking photos that are that much better that you’ll wonder why you were ever questioning gettting a DSLR at all.

I’m going to leave you with some more photos from a recent trip I took with friends (I’m based in the UK, by the way, and we all decided to go for a great south west holiday; definitely recommend it, there are some great holiday cottages in Devon – perfect for a group of friends looking for something a bit different to London or an 18 – 30’s holiday!).

I’m really thrilled to have another ‘learn from the experts‘ interview here on LearningTheLight.com, and this time with none other than Crash Taylor, one of the UK’s most inspiring and exclusive wedding photographers.

If you’ve followed this site for a while you’ll know that I have the utmost admiration for wedding photographers, and I think we can all learn so much from them; the wedding photographer has to be a master of virtually all type of photographer, and he/she has to do so under the most intense pressure!

So I’m really happy to be presenting some tips and thoughts from one of the world’s best… over to Crash after an example of his work:

Thanks for taking the time to do this interview, Crash, it’s really appreciated. My first question is about ‘style’. You have a distinctive style all of your own, and have won many awards – as well as being nominated as one of the Top 10 Winter Wedding photographers by Professional Photographer magazine. How did your style develop? Could you give our readers any advice on how to create their own style, how to differentiate their photography from everyone else’s?

Style takes time to develop within the soul of the photographer. You will only develop a style if you are in love with photography. Photography comes from within and you must work your ass off to develop a style that makes clients sign a big cheque! Constantly experiment and hopefully you find your path. Why? Because it’s the best path in the world and it never comes to an end. You just keep walking and lovin’ every vista it throws at you.

Tell us a little bit about you?

Born and raised in Los Angeles. The past 7 years Nottingham, UK.

How many weddings do you average per year?

25

What type of cameras do you shoot with?

Canon 5D Mark II’s.

What lighting equipment do you take on a shoot?

A suitcase full of all sorts of goodies. The case can cover 99% of what we need on a still or film shoot.

Could you let us know about your very first wedding as the ‘pro photographer’?

My first wedding actually took place in Marbella, Spain. My wife was assisting me and it was one awesome day!

What would be your top tips for people asked to photograph their friend’s/family member’s wedding?

Hire a professional

A lot of first-time wedding photographers are nervous at the thought of the ‘group shots’. Your group shots are full of fun, and just look so natural. How do you go about getting these relaxed, non stiff-looking shots?

If you as a photographer are nervous about taking group shots then you are in the wrong business. I love the group shots, we have lots of fun but the most important thing – I’m quick

What would be your gear recommendations for the beginner wedding photographer?

My recommendation is always to buy the best gear you can afford.

Your images contain a mixture of both posed and candid shots. Could you give us any tips, as photographers, on how to pose the bride and groom? Do you prefer to take candid shots?

I love all shots. No posing at my weddings, just natural directing the Crash Taylor way

You also deliver wedding workshops (crashtaylorphotoworkshops.com). What kind of photographers do your workshops attract, and do you ever end up learning anything from them too?

They attract delegates from all over the world. I tell the wedding photographer the good and bad about the business, everything they need to know to stay consistent and shoot £2K, 3K, 4K weddings.

If you only had one lens to shoot an entire wedding with, what would it be?

The new Canon 16-200mm 2.0 L IS lens

What would you like to be doing in 3 years from now?

The goal is to have Taylor | Winter Films become a kick ass production company creating films, stills, commercials, advertising, and music videos. We will be offering a very exclusive wedding film service to brides as well. Motion and editing will be a huge part of the business and I plan on personally photographing 10 pick and choose weddings starting in 2015.

Lastly, to end on a non-wedding question, what would be your top tip(s) for photographers trying to improve their photography?

(and if you enjoyed this interview, you can follow us on Twitter and Facebook to be the first to know when more interviews go up!)

]]>http://www.learningthelight.com/2012/03/04/learn-from-the-experts-an-interview-with-crash-taylor/feed/0Sun Sniper DPH Strap Reviewhttp://www.learningthelight.com/2012/02/19/sun-sniper-dph-strap-review/
http://www.learningthelight.com/2012/02/19/sun-sniper-dph-strap-review/#commentsSun, 19 Feb 2012 18:35:13 +0000http://www.learningthelight.com/?p=1971I’m really happy to be reviewing the Sun Sniper DPH (Double Plus Harness) Strap today; apologies that it’s been so long since I last did a post on here (the birth of my daughter has meant quite a busy time for me!), I’m going to be keeping the site more up-to-date from now on, honest!

Anyway, I digress, back to the review. Here’s a shot of me with the Sun Sniper strap on, with a Canon 7D (with a 17 – 55 f/2.8 lens) and a Canon 500D (with a 70 – 200 f/2.8 IS II lens). Bear in mind that the shots in the post are really not very good – they were taken on an iphone, as my DSLRs were obviously not able to take shots of themselves!

Sun Sniper DPH Strap

I wanted to get this strap for this one, major reason: When I’m doing my wedding photography, I carry both my DSLRs at the same time – one with a shorter zoom lens (the 17 – 55), and one with the longer telephoto (the 70 – 200). Having two bodies on me means i don’t have to swap lenses all the time, and thus I stand a much better chance of ‘getting the shot’. The problem with how I used to do this, was that both cameras were around my neck, and so swapping between them meant that the straps got intertwined, and, well, it could be quite a nightmare. Putting the normal straps around my shoulders was no use, either, as they just weren’t safe like that. Enter the Sun Sniper…

To be short, I love it. The best thing? The fact that I can carry both my cameras, and quickly and smoothly go from shooting with one to the other. Here’s another shot of the strap in use:

See how the unused camera sits nicely at my hip, great!

The system works so simply, too – you just attach each camera to the strap system by using each camera’s tripod socket. It’s secure, and cleverly uses a great little swivel system, so the straps don’t twist, and you can quickly use the cameras in either landscape or portrait orientation.

Here’s a video which shows the strap in use (the video demonstrates each variant of the strap, all made by Sun Sniper – as you can just get a strap meant for one DSLR):

Another great thing about the strap? No more neck-tiredness, as the weight of the cameras are now on your shoulders, rather than all on your neck. That can’t be underestimated if you’ll be carrying two heavy cameras around all day! The shoulders straps are also nicely padded, so they feel really comfortable – even with the heavy 70 – 200 f/2.8 IS II lens on.

It’s also very secure, as the straps are lined with a steel cable – therefore, if security is an issue, such as if you’re walking around a busy market, or on holiday somewhere you don’t completely trust, your cameras are much less likely to get stolen by someone trying to cut through your strap – in fact, the strap actually comes with its own insurance; if someone does managed to cut through the strap and steal your camera, you’re covered up to $500/400 Euros.

I haven’t used the strap at a wedding yet, but I will do very soon – I’ll report back on its performance then, but I’m totally confidant that it will be superb. I do a lot of bending down at weddings, taking shots of children and so on, so another good thing is that each strap is adjustable in length, so I can bend down without worrying the long 70 – 200 is going to scrape the ground, as you can see from this pic:

Bending down is no problem either....

As a bonus, you can imagine you’re a wild west dueler too…

....draw!

The DPH can also be separated easily into two separate straps, should you wish to go out with just a single DSLR (they do also sell versions meant for just one camera, but getting the DPH means you can have the best of both worlds):

You can also wear just one part, for just one camera

It does also come with the means to attach a third camera – a small, compact camera, which would sit in the middle of your chest. I detached this, though, as I won’t be using it, so you can’t see it in my shots above. But it’s there if you really do want to have three cameras on you at once…!

So, as I mentioned, I’ll come back and do an update to this review after I’ve put it through a wedding, but I’m loving it at the moment; I’ve taken my normal straps off both my cameras, I won’t be needing them anymore…

This is a shot of my wife; we’re expecting our first child in just under a week’s time (eeek!), and we wanted some nice photos of the ‘bump’ – this is our favourite shot from an evening’s photoshoot we did in our lounge last week. I’m still learning lots about off-camera flash, but I’m really happy with how this shot came out.

For anyone who’s on the fence about whether to try their hand at off-camera flash, I really recommend going out there and doing it. Sure, there’s a lot to learn, and it can seem daunting at first, but when you get a really nice shot, it’s all worth it. There’s also a fantastic book about off-camera flash called ‘The Speedliter’s Handbook’, which I did a review of – it really talks to you in a no-nonsense, practical way; cutting through all the jargon and just showing you how to light things – I heartily recommend it.

I couldn’t really show it in the drawing very well, but the softbox was actually positioned a little way behind my wife, so it was pointing a little bit more towards camera, rather than directly at her. This meant that the light from the flash wrapped around her somewhat, and gives a really nice sense of depth to the image.

I shot at ISO 100 so that the image was as clean as possible, and used a shutter speed of 1/250 sec and aperture of f/8 so that no other light – apart from the flash – was part of the exposure. There were some low-level lights in the room (so we could see what we were doing, and could achieve focus!), but because I was shooting at 1/250 sec, with an aperture of f/8 and ISO 100, it meant that this low-level light was not part of the exposure – exactly what I wanted, as I just wanted the light from the flash to be the only light source.

So, I dialed in those settings, and took a test shot (before turning on the flash). The shot looked totally black, which is what I wanted. I then turned on the flash, using the 7D’s built-in wireless trigger capabilities to fire the 580 EX II through the softbox. After some trial and error with changing the power of the flash (I shot in manual flash mode, changing the power of the flash down if I thought it was too bright, or up if it was too dark) I got the shot above!

As I mentioned above, I really recommend reading ‘The Speedliter’s Handbook‘ if you want to get into off-camera flash; I tried to find out information on the internet about doing it, but didn’t find information half as good (or half as easy to understand) as in The Speedliter’s Handbook.